Josiah Tattnall (senator)

Josiah Tattnall (1762-6 June 1803) was a US Senator from Georgia from 20 February 1796 to 4 March 1799, succeeding George Walton and preceding Abraham Baldwin, and Governor from 7 November 1801 to 4 November 1802, succeeding David Emanuel and preceding John Milledge. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and he was the father of Confederate admiral Josiah Tattnall.

Biography
Josiah Tattnall was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1762, and his plantation-owning family left Georgia at the start of the American Revolutionary War, living in the Bahamas and England. In 1782, the Tattnall family returned to Georgia, and Tattnall joined the Continental Army under Anthony Wayne, helping with the recapture of Savannah. He commanded the Georgia militia in 1767 and led troops against the Creeks in 1788 and 1793, and he would enter politics as a Democratic-Republican Party member. Tattnall served in the General Assembly from 1795 to 1796, and he served in the US Senate from 1796 to 1799 and as Governor from 1801 to 1802. He died in 1803.